Council refuses to release files on Haulbowline site
The decision further fuels speculation of a cover-up at official level about the extent of the environmental disaster, whistleblower Stephen Griffin said last night.
He said it flies in the face of promises of full disclosure and openness by Environment Minister John Gormley after the Irish Examiner broke the story last week.
Subcontractors Louis J O’Regan Ltd, whose contract to surface clean the contaminated site has been terminated by the Department of the Environment, applied to the local authority on May 2, under Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007, for access to documents relating to the site.
Mr Griffin said they wanted full details on the nature and extent of toxic materials to know what workers on the site were dealing with.
But the Irish Examiner learned yesterday that the council informed Mr O’Regan’s solicitor of its decision to refuse to release the documents on June 24, the day before this newspaper broke the story.
The council said the information sought falls into five categories:
* Technical reports.
* Minutes of meetings of a steering group set up to advise the government on the steel works site.
* Emails between council staff and its agents.
* Documents on the shipment of waste within the State.
* Trans-frontier shipment of waste documents.
“I regret that a large percentage of the information requested by you must be refused,” a council official wrote.
Outlining the context of the decision, he wrote: “It has come to my attention that a steering group was set up to inform government and assist them in deciding the future of the site.
“The more recent technical reports were commissioned for the same purpose... A submission to Government was scheduled for last July but with the change of government, this was adjourned.
“The Department of the Environment informs me that this will hopefully proceed in the near future.
“In the meantime, recent technical reports, as well as the minutes of meetings of the steering group, are refused as they form part of the deliberative process of the council and of the Government.
“Emails are refused on the same basis, and additionally because they form internal communication....
“A large number of samples, analyses, tests were taken by our contractors over the last nine months to classify materials for disposal.
“We do not yet have these results, but they will be supplied to us by the contractors in due course.”
Celebrity solicitor Gerald Kean has vowed to fight for answers for a group of men who were employed by various contractors working on the site, and who are now fearful for their health.
Labour TD Ciaran Lynch has written to Mr Gormley seeking clarification on suggestions that tens of thousands of tonnes of potentially toxic material may have been removed from Haulbowline for use in the construction of roads.
“A substantial quantity of slag-heap material was apparently removed from the island over the past decade — but nobody seems clear on where the material went,” he said.
Fine Gael’s health spokes- man, Dr James Reilly, met with harbour residents last night to discuss the scandal.
Cork County Council said yesterday, their reasons for refusing to release information, “were all backed up by legislation”.
A spokesperson said the council refused the request in liaison with the Department of the Environment.
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